Family chosen for fair gifts 2011.06.29

Last year’s Town and Country Festival motorcycle poker run directed a lot of prizes to participants in the event. This year, organizer Bill Foster had another idea, something he’s calling “Send a Family to the Festival.”

Entry fees would again go to the festival committee as a fund raiser, but prizes donated by merchants would go to a local family in need.

“In honor of the Skelton brothers, we picked a family facing some hardships and presented them with a variety of gifts,” Foster said.

Finding a family was simple. He knew about a neighbor, Angela Conklin, and her four young sons and asked her if she would be interested.

Thursday afternoon Foster lined the boys up on his front steps and first presented them with cowboy hats and passes to the festival rodeo.

Next came weekend wristbands for carnival rides, donated by D&R Shows, the company that furnishes rides for the festival.

There were certificates for food from vendors, a dinner at Pearl’s Pizza Palace, piggy banks from United Bank and Trust, each containing three dollar coins, and several other items. There were plenty of treats to make sure the Conklins a good festival weekend.

“The response has been really great,” Foster said. “We’re going to do it every year.”

Before saying the project would be done honor of the Skelton boys, Foster spoke with their mother, Tanya, who thought it was a great idea.